Threads of Fate
by Sasubae
Summary: She confessed to him when they were entering their third year. He kissed her when she won a cooking battle against him. She hold his hand when she was scared of falling apart. The relationship between the commoner and Tōtsuki princess progresses in steps – it's time to take another one.
1. Chapter 1

Pairing: Sōma/Erina

Rating: **T+**

 **English is not my first language. I apologize for any grammar errors in advance.**

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Shokugeki no Sōma.

* * *

Erina Nakiri was spending day in her office doing the well-known and boring paperwork. Being a third year and the first seat of Tōtsuki Academy was conncected to having hundreds of obligations and resposibilities which Erina couldn't neglect. Even if she really wanted to.

After long holidays which she spent with her friends and closest ones the blonde had a hard time getting used to the actual work and strict life of a leading student. The position of the first seat as amazing as it may seem was actually a really stressful and resposible job. Being the Nakiri heiress wasn't making the situation better so her hands were always full of work. She had to be everywhere; on every event happening in the academy, every contest, taste test or Elite Ten's meeting. As if all these things weren't enough Erina had to deal with her boisterous, uh, boyfriend (she still couldn't come to terms with calling _him_ her boyfriend even if Alice reminded her to do so on multiple occasions). By _him_ she meant no one other than a man named Yukihira Sōma – current second seat and literally the biggest slacker on earth. How could he even think about taking the first position from her if he can't even take care of his own paperwork?! _That idiot! He thinks it's all that great and fun and never listens to me when I'm trying to talk some sense into him!_

Anyway, she needed to forget about the vacations and get to work... Thinking about Yukihira was only deconcentrating her unnecessarily. The fact that it's been four days since she has last seen Sōma wasn't helping either... it was really hard for her to not think about him a lot during the day. Usually she didn't mind the long separation – his presence annoyed the hell out her mostly because of his constant teasing. But after spending a whole month with the red-haired boy she felt weird not seeing him as often as she used to. It's not like she missed him, obviously (at least that's what she kept telling herself), but she just felt the weird need to see him, to see his annoying grin and ridiculously red and messy hair. She wanted to _feel_ his rough touch on her skin again, even if it was hard to admit.

She sighed deeply to stem the furious red blush creeping over her cheeks and then took a big sip of an aromatic green tea which Hisako prepared for her earlier. The amazing aroma and flavour of the warm liquid calmed her a little as she began to fill next pile of documents. Much to Erina's displeasure her office door bursted open and the amethyst eyes were met with a sight of her white-haired cousin; cheeky smile painted on her pale face. Of course it was her, no one would walk into her office with such noise (she won't mention the fact that Alice didn't even care to knock).

"My dear cousin!" Alice greeted her as she began walking towards Erina's desk.

"What do you want, Alice?" replied Erina not showing as much excitement as the other Nakiri princess.

"Mou, you're cold as aways I see." Alice moaned unhappily and started making circles around Erina whose back rested on her chair.

The blonde sighed again and rubbed her temples. Alice was really getting on her nerves quite often but the Nakiri heiress took it as her mission to be more patient with her cousin in the sake of their sister-like relationship. Especially when white-haired girl was accusing her for being cold. She didn't want to be viewed this way anymore.

The blonde managed to give Alice a smile and apologized, "I'm sorry Alice. I'm just so busy and tired. And there is still so much I need to do."

Alice hummed in response as she sat on the edge of a wooden desk, "Then take a break! You are the first seat, no one will force you to do something you don't want to!"

"Exactly I'm the first seat, not the director of a whole school. I have plenty of things I don't want but have to do."

"But I've already talked with grandfather and he canceled all your later affairs so..." Alice explained with hands behind her back.

"Wha-" shocked Erina raised up from her seat; annoyance appearing on her face. "What are you talking about, Alice? Why are you meddling in my business?!"

"Hey, that's how grateful you are?" Nakiri frowned. "I made you a favour!"

"I didn't ask you to do this! Now all these affairs will be daleyed onto next days and I will have much more work!"

"Jeez Erina, calm down. I just wanted to spend some time with you. I miss you, you know!" white-haired girl pouted and turned her back to the blonde girl. _As usual!_ Erina never took any initiative for them to actually meet and spend a day or so like sisters. They were on holidays together and even then Erina was always busy with Hisako, or even with Yukihira. It's not like Erina ignored her, obviously not, but still she felt brushed aside. She wanted to have her only for herself sometimes too, to gossip with her, have some girls talk. She couldn't do this with Ryō so Erina was her only option left!

"Huh?" Erina asked surprised at the girl's statement. Did she really mean it?

"What? Is it that weird?" red eyes looked into amethyst ones, "We can finally have a big talk, exchange some tips and experiences. Especially that now you have a boyfriend my dear!"

A big blush appeared on Erina's cheeks and Alice let out a small chuckle. The blonde flicked her hair and folded arms on her rather ample chest trying to hide her obvious red face. "Fine! But I won't tell you anything about my relationship with Sōma so don't even concern yourself about it. And don't call him my boyfriend!"

"Oh why not? Yukihira Sōma _is_ your boyfriend, Erina~"

"Shut up!"

"Fufu, don't be embarrased..."

"I am not!" The whole conversation was too iritating for Erina to handle so she decided to end the pointless talk for good, "Anyway, cut it out Alice. I don't have time to deal with you any longer!"

Alice chuckled again and murmuring quiet 'okay' she made her way towards the door. "But remember! At six I want to see you in my room! We will have so much fun!"

With that said Alice exited Erina's office leaving the blonde princess blushing with a pout formed on her lips.

-0-

Tadokoro Megumi walked down the big stairs humming to herself quietly. The sound of her melodying voice was heard through the big hall of Polar Star dormitory. The blue-haired girl suddenly noticed an uneasy sillence surrounding her. Usually at the this hour everyone in the dorm was awake; doing all their suff, talking and cooking. _That's weird_... Sighing she made her way upstairs again, _everyone_ _is_ _probably still in beds_ _._

She took a few glances in her dormmates rooms – Yūki was sleeping loudly, surrounded by bunch of hares, chickens and all wild animals she possesed, Shouji and Daigo both fell asleep in the latter's room as well. She then looked into Marui's chamber and found there Ryōko sitting on boy's bed lazily reading some magazine while the owner of the room was doing something on his computer.

"Megumi-chan!" the purple-haired girl looked away from article and greeted Tadokoro. Marui sent her a quick 'good morning' and got back to his work right after.

"Hi guys." Megumi simply replyed and closed the door. "Why is everyone still asleep at this hour?"

Ryōko hearing girl's question looked at her a little bit confused but then she smiled, "Ah right! You went to bed pretty early yesterday! Isshiki-senpai visited us last night and we had, well, a little party with him. We were talking untill late night hours I guess, that's why everyone is pretty tired-"

"What?!" blue-haired girl shouted, a little too loud as she noted second later, "Isshiki-senpai visited us and you didn't wake me up?!" How could she missed this!?

Isshiki Satoshi graduated from Tōtsuki more than a half year ago. Everyone in the Polar Star dormitory noticed how empty and lifeless the dorm became without him. But that was a natural order of things and they couldn't do anything about it other than remember all fun times they had with their former dormmate.

But still! He came here yesterday and haven't even thought about her! This man... he obviously couldn't visit them during the day, didn't he? But what she could expect from him, he was everything but a normal person.

It still made her a little bit upset; Ryōko seeing her sad expression placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled lovingly, "Oh Megumi-chan, we are really sorry. Isshiki-senpai wanted to wake you up but Yukihira said that you had a really tiring day so you should just make up for your lost sleep. They both were pretty concerned about you actually."

At the name of a certain red-haired boy Megumi's cheek flushed red. _Sōma-kun..._ she shook her head to avoid thoughts that was creeping to her mind, "W-well then, I think I can forgive you guys with this thing. But next time when Isshiki-senpai visits us I want to see him without a fail, okay?"

Ryōko giggled at her huffy expression and nodded, "Sure thing."

Megumi smiled back to her friend and stood up from Marui's bed straightening her dress, "I guess I will make us a breakfast. Would you like anything in particular?"

"Oh no, everything is fine with us, right Marui-kun?"

Dark-haired boy distracted from his work simply nodded, a little bit irritated that his room was again a hangout place for everyone.

Tadokoro smiled at them and as she was exiting the room she couldn't help but ask, "Um, Sōma-kun is still asleep, isn't he?"

Ryōko glanced at her surprised, "Well, I don't know actually. Probably yes, since he was the last one that went to bed yesterday."

"Oh, okay..." Megumi quickly left Marui's room and sighed making her way towards the kitchen. Why was she even asking them about Sōma, she's so obvious! _Mind your own business Megumi_ _!_ , she couldn't help but scold herself for being so bold.

She was really delusional thinking she has any chance with him, didn't she? Sōma had a _girlfriend_. And this girlfriend was no one other than Nakiri Erina, the first seat of Tōtsuki Academy and the heiress of Nakiri family. As unbelievable as it may seem these two really got together at the end of their second year. She should forget about her feelings toward the red-haired man, it was really inappropriate since both Yukihira and Nakiri were really close friends to her and Sōma seemed to be really serious about Erina as well. And as hard as it was for her to say, Megumi has never seen Sōma so happy. Surely, he always had this big grin on his face even when he wasn't dating Erina, but since she found out about these two she noticed... how his cooking changed. He was even happier being in the kitchen and maybe if it didn't seem that the blonde girl was the reason behind it, she knew it was her. Whatever he was cooking, he seemed like he was making it just for her.

And it hurt. Megumi deeply inside wanted to be this girl. But at the same time she wanted to forget about him. Be happy for him because he found his love and person he wants to cook for. But she couldn't and it was really depressing.

 _I'm thinking about this again_ , she shook her head to banish her thoughts away. The sudden noise distracted her and she quickly ran to the place where the sound came from. Apparently it was kitchen.

The blue-haired girl noticed two things. One, as she walked into the room she was greeted by intense smell of ginger and cardamon which tickled her nostrills pleasantly. The second thing was a tall posture, standing before the stove, with a clump of red hair on his head.

"Sōma-kun! What happened?" she asked referring to earliers noise she heard. "And what are you even doing here? I thought you are sleeping."

"Ah, Tadokoro! Sorry for that bump, I threw spatula into the sink and it made bigger noise than I expected." he answered; his voice was raspy and tired, she remarked. It was then when she approached him and saw big bags under his eyes.

"Sōma-kun! Y-you haven't sleep all night didn't you!" she said worringly facing him; her little brows furrowed, "Am I right?"

Sōma grinned at her and scratched back of his neck in humility. It didn't surprise him how well she knew him, "Well, after Isshiki-senpai left I wasn't really tired so I thought I will work for my new recipe."

"But still, you shouldn't neglect your sleep just for that!"

"Okay, okay, calm down will ya?" he said with a smile as he continued preparing his food.

The tiny lips tighten in grimace, "No, I won't calm down Sōma-kun! You're careless as usual and you are abandoning your sleep, I can't allow it. You're the second seat so you have to be well rested and focused." she turned off the stove and grabed him by his sleeve, ignoring loud 'huh?!' coming from his mouth, "Now, go to bed and sleep, you'll finish your dish later."

"But that's for Eri-"

At the sound of the blonde name's rolling off the boy's tounge Megumi couldn't help but feel jealousy and anger. He was talking about her again. "In this state you won't cook anything good anyway, you need a lot of sleep to focus! Now, come with me!"

Sōma still a little bit surprised by her sudden bossy attitude, smiled and closed his eyes. It never ceases to amaze him how caring this little girl can be. Well, it won't hurt if he takes a little nap after all.

-0-

Erina looked at the big queen-sized bed on which Alice threw a bunch of colorful girl's magazines and hundreds of pillows. _Really..?_ This is what Alice wanted to do with her? She sighed and took a look aroud the room; there was some food, plushies, lots of blankets and earlier mentioned pillows. She also noticed a big pile of DVDs splayed on the floor, romances she guessed.

"Help yourself my dear!" Alice said excited as she sat on the bed, dressed in her pajamas. Erina, who was wearing her nightgown as well, sat next to her.

"Then, what are your plans Alice?" the blonde asked.

Red eyes looked at the Nakiri princess carefully and then she laughed, "Aw Erina, there are no plans tonight! We are just gonna do what we want! Act spontanious!"

Annoyance started making their way on Erina's face as she blushed in embarassement, "Then what do you want to do?!" she really started regretting coming here.

When Alice stopped laughing she looked at her cousin, red eyes studying her posture curiously, "Okay then, I know what I want to do. Let's talk about you and Sōma."

Amethyst eyes looked at the white-haired girl with even bigger annoyance, "Stop being a child Alice. I told you I won't tell you anything about us. It isn't really much to talk about either."

"Oh, why not?" she asked, the blonde's statement making her curious even more, "Haven't you had sex?"

"ALICE!" Erina, now furiosly red shouted at her cousin with wide eyes; Alice could swore she almost saw a steam coming from sister's ears and got worried that the blonde could faint any second.

Well, maybe she shouldn't have ask that question, okay? But she couldn't help but tease Erina a little. Her reactions were literally priceless and were always some kind of entertainment; both Sōma and Alice were thinking the same thing.

As Erina was making weird stuttering noises, Alice sighed and placed hand on her shoulder, "My my, I was just kidding, okay? Calm down."

Erina sent her cousin a murderous glare and looked away from her, clearly disgruntled with her sister's behaviour.

"Okay, so maybe let's watch a movie!" Alice suggested as she jumped off the bed. "Are you fine with that?"

Erina, still in a bad mood, nodded slightly. How could she ask such a question so forwardly! _So shameless!_ She really couldn't believe how silly her sister sometimes could be; she was way too similiar to the certain redhead idiot she knew, apparently they both shared one perverted mind. But it looked like Alice changed the subject and won't make any stupid actions anymore since she was now looking through DVDs she had splayed on the floor. The movie will last two hours or so, which means that Erina will have some peacefullness till then. At least she hoped so, Alice was unpredictable.

"Okay then, maybe let's watch this one. It's called _Ice Queen_." The white-haired princess showed Erina the cover of the movie. "It suits you." Alice giggled ignoring glare from the blonde. The movie soon was placed in DVD player and both Nakiri sisters sprawled comfortably on a bed full of pillows and blankets, with Alice hugged to Erina's side. The latter wasn't a big fan of romance movies but it was probably because she haven't watched many in her life, in fact she haven't watched any at all.

But she quickly got into the story that was played on the big screen, even if on the outside she tried to act like she didn't. She paid a lot of attention to the movie, ignoring Alice's sobbing and constant wetness on her sleeve from cousin's tears. When the bed scene began she couldn't help but feel the growing embarassment, she wasn't used to seeing those kind of things. Especially that now when she was in relationship with a certain redhead she shamelessly imagined doing all these things with him as well (she had no idea why these thoughts were appearing in her head). That purely teenager side of her took over, shadowing all the reasoning of Nakiri Erina that was trying to convince her that doing these blatant things with a man was wrong.

It didn't go unnoticed by Alice, she quickly catched furiously red color forming on Erina's cheeks. "Fu fu, Erina you are blushing." She couldn't help but tease her sister a little.

"S-Shut up Alice." The blonde stuttered back, "That's because you forced me into watching these... intimate scenes. Why would they put it into a movie anyway!"

"Hm, but that's normal you know." White-haired girl replied with an obvious tone.

"Huh?"

"It's normal to do this. When you really like someone, it's nothing wrong with showing it through an act. And I bet you it's an amazing experience."

Erina glanced at the screen again with dreamy eyes. Looking at the two bodies, connected with each other and living their own self. Showing their trust and love through their kisses, moves and touches.

It was fascinating, still dirty, but fascinating. She wondered how does it feel.

 _When you really like someone, it's nothing wrong with showing it through an act._

She saw herself and Sōma in the place of two lead characters of the movie they were watching. Because at the end of the day, whether she wanted to admit it or not, she liked him. And she knew she would never like anyone else as much as she liked this guy. She knew she would never think about doing it with anyone else than Sōma.

Nakiri felt like she never fully showed her true feeling towards him even if she really wanted to but the strict demeanor the world knew Erina for wasn't allowing her to be blunt about her love and affection. She still wasn't sure how did she got into relationship with someone she hated and despised so much but she knew she wasn't the Erina she was before, and that her feelings towards redhead developed into something true, beautiful and heartwarming.

 _She really liked him._

-0-

A clump of red hair moved against the pillow in a lazy manner. Sōma's eyes slowly opened revealing golden orbs. After a long yawn he immedietaly noticed blonde figure sitting on the chair in front of his desk scrolling through her phone with focus. He propped his head on the back of his hand looking at the Nakiri princess that quickly catched his stare and locked her phone putting it down on the wooden surface. She turned around on the swivel chair and moved closer to the edge of Sōma's bed. The man kept looking at her in a silence, when he assumed she didn't plan on saying anything he decided to start a conversation.

"Hey," he spoke out with still raspy from the sleep voice. He also noticed the darkness surronding them in his room, _huh? she didn't turn on the lights?_ Taking a quick look at the window he noticed the night sky with a bright moon highly hanged on the starry firmament, "What time is it?"

"9 pm."

Sōma nodded wiping sleep from his eyes. "Well my nap was way longer than I expected it to be. Did you wait until I wake up?"

"I just came here." She answered as a matter of avoiding the question. There's no way she's going to tell him she's been sitting here for the past thirty minutes.

"I see," He replied looking at the blonde girl before him, "what brings you at this hour then? Don't tell me you missed me, huh Nakiri?"

"I did." Erina replied with eyes embedded into the floor. At this hour of the day she didn't have the mood nor the strength to try to be someone else, to deny her real feelings and intetion. And that really stradled Sōma at first, he expected to see her usual Nakiri-like chaotic reaction. His eyes widened for a second and then a smile appeared on his handsome face.

"Huh, so Nakiri Erina misses me after all. What a good time to be alive." He tried to tease the blonde a little more but soon he noticed how she started fidgeting in her seat and biting her lower lip. She looked... nervous? "Hm, Nakiri what's up?"

"Yukihira-kun." The tone of her voice reminded an order.

She looked into his eyes with determination; the blush on her cheeks very evident. "I want to spend this night with you."

-0-

* * *

 _A/N: **Part 2** is coming soon! _

_This story is a remade version of my project i started a year ago. At first it was intended to be a series of one shots but then my mind came up with an idea of several-part story so since the first chapter wouldn't make sense to it at all I decided to delete it and start with this thing._

 _Hope you enjoyed it nonetheless, reviews are highly welcomed!_


	2. Chapter 2

"Yukhira-kun. I want to spend this night with you."

The words broke through the silence of the room, Erina's intense gaze was glued to the man before her. She said it. She didn't really know what made her confess it (well, Alice did duh...) but in fact she was really determined to admit it to him herself. Why? Maybe it was the late night hour that make her think unreasonable, maybe it was Sōma that was making her mind go crazy, maybe she was under the influence of a _certain feeling_ she couldn't put name on. But she did it and there was no turning back.

She glanced at Sōma looking for his reaction. After all her confession was a big, serious thing that demanded a lot of courage and honesty from her. He must react in some way. A nervous heartbeat started pounding in her chest. What is he going to say? Will he reject her, laugh at her or take it seriously and agree. Has he ever done _it_ before?

The silence filled the room again but only for a second as it was broken by the man's long and loud yawn, "Huh? Sorry babe, I spaced out. Can you repeat that?"

Erina's mouth turned agape, the red color creeping to her cheeks from embarrassment. There's NO WAY he just did that! Why was she even wasting her time on this idiot, honestly. She just said she wants to have se– she wants him to take her vir–..ugh she confessed _THIS_ and yet he was bold enough to not listen to her at this big moment, how he dared! ' _Yukihira, that guy...'_

"U-uh... I said I want to... spend this night w-with you... in your bed. But not in a way you think! Like, y-you know..." she stuttered messily with a red like tomato face looking everywhere but her boyfriend.

"You want to sleep with me?"

"YES! I mean, yes I do. But just sleep okay?! Don't take the wrong idea, you pervert!" well, turns out she chickened out, "You know what forget it, I'm going back home."

"No, stay." she heard his protest as she began to stand up from the chair. Amethyst eyes looked in Sōma's direction and saw him unfolding the blanket he was covered revealing the empty space for her, "C'mere."

Erina bit her lip watching the mattress of the boy's bed intensely. Even if she felt a little hesitation at first she moved closer, soon lying next to Sōma and covering her entire body with the blanket until it reached her chin. They still kept the 20cm distance between their bodies while Erina made sure to not make any physical contact with the red head. She was insanely nervous and was doing bad job at hiding it. A small smirk appeared on boy's face.

Thinking that Yukihira wasn't looking, Erina discretely sniffed the blanket as it was already hitting her nostrils with familiar scent. It smelled just like Sōma, and the realization made her thighs squeeze together. It was the scent she has felt around her for a very long time, years even. It was his own, natural scent–very musky with a mixture of strong aroma of spices he worked with on daily basis. She was starting to realize how much time they actually spent together–she could feel this scent in the air ever since she remembered. If she's honest it was her favorite, but you didn't hear that from me.

"Soo... is there any reason why you can't sleep at your house tonight?" he suddenly asked making her mind go back on track.

"Not really..."

"Huh, I see." he didn't really wait for any further explanation. He turned to her and noticed that her body was trembling. Her little fists were tightly gripping the edge of the blanket right next to her chin, her eyes were glued to the ceiling and her cheeks were tinted in a beautiful shade of pink. _Cute._

But as cute as she was to him in that moment, the fact that she was shaking concerned him more so he had to take care of it.

He assumed she might be cold (or just really nervous) so he smoothly grabbed her waist in a quick move and brought her small figure to his body. Her eyes widened so much they almost fell out of its sockets not expecting any of this happening. Sure he hugged her before but now they were in bed... at night, her body pressed to his. He was warm _..._ more–he was _burning hot_. She could feel the sweat appearing on her neck as the close proximity continued. How could she stay composed when all she could feel and smell was _him_! He was so big as well, why the thought that she's ready to take such a big step in their relationship even crossed her mind when cuddling already affected her this much?

 _'You're crazy Erina...'_ she scolded herself for being so weak for him. Why was he making her feel this way? She needed to collect herself, she came here with a plan and goal she wanted to accomplish. Yes, that's right.

Being cuddled to him tightly Erina gathered up her courage and looked up, only to see he was looking at her as well, their gazes meeting. The blonde quickly broke the eye contact hiding face in his chest again missing the small smile that appeared on boy's lips (he was way too amused seeing her embarrassed state). ' _Well that wasn't a good start...'_ she thought.

"Sooo I created a new dish today. I feel this can be my speciality." she heard him saying (glad he started any sort of conversation), "well I mean, it's pretty much the same dish as the one from two days ago but it's better, I changed a lot of things with a little help from Hayama. I think you'll like it, wanna try it?"

"Y-yeah, sure."

"Great!" Erina felt the warmth of his hand leaving her waist as the boy began to get out from the bed.

"What? Not now!" she shouted annoyed, catching him by his shirt as he barely moved from his place, "Are you crazy? You will do it tomorrow! Now we were supposed to...sleep."

"Ugh, fine..." he complied and rested his back on the bed again. He was low-key relieved to see Erina acting like herself again.

Now it was her that cuddled up to him, basically bringing their previous position back. With a little smile on his lips Sōma closed his eyes, his hand pressing more intensely on her waist than it was before. He rested his cheek on the top of her head, his nose filled with the sweet like honey scent of her hair.

It was nice. Being like this.

After a second he felt how her arm slowly embraced him and rested on his back, her little fist between his shoulder blades. It made them lie even closer to each other, their warmth and scents mixing together, heating up the air around them.

Erina breathed nervously, trying to relieve the tension from her body and loosen up her muscles. It was just Sōma, no one other than him – just two of them alone, she can relax, right? ' _No need to be so nervous about it, Erina.'_

She looked up to him again to see that his eyes are closed. Did he fell asleep? So quickly? No way! He can't fall asleep just yet, her whole effort of coming here will be wasted and the next opportunity may not come so fast.

Her doubts faded away when she felt his grip on her waist move onto the lower of her back and his one eye opened revealing a golden orb.

"Hm?" he asked clearly aware of the fact that she's been staring at him for a good minute. Erina bit her lip and scanned his face carefully. She took her time to think of what she should say and how to act.

"Yukihira-kun," she said softly, her tone almost reminding a whisper, "can you kiss me?"

Sōma's brow raised up and a teasing smirk appeared on his face, _of course_.

"Huh, you want me to kiss you?" he grinned, "Why so suddenly?"

Annoyed grimace started appearing on Erina's flustered face, "Just because! We are dating right, what's so weird about it!"

"Ehh, maybe I don't wanna..." he said with a fake pout teasing the blonde further, enjoying every second of her fury.

Nakiri's mouth opened in shock, "What?! You are lying Yukihira Sōma."

"Hm, maybe I am, maybe I'm not. If you want a kiss then go ahead and take it."

Erina's face flushed pink, she wanted to hid her face in his chest again and just end the conversation. Why was he making everything so difficult?!

"I wanted _you_ to kiss _me_!" she said with her teeth clenched, "But you know what, forget it! We can never kiss if you want it that much! I don't care!"

Sōma chuckled and just pulled her closer to his body, "Calm down, will ya? I was joking around."

Erina humphed and rolled her eyes, she should have got used to his stupid jokes already but he still somehow managed to make her lose her cool over the most little things.

Her pink, heart-shaped lips formed a cute pout–that's when Sōma took the opportunity to place a chaste peck on them catching the girl out of guard. The kiss lasted around a second then the red head purposely moved away leaving Erina unconsciously shifting her head forward, yearning for more.

Nakiri quickly realized what he made her do, her cheeks burning with crimson shade of red from embarrassment.

"We're needy, huh?" he remarked with a smirk, giving her mischievous look.

"Will you ever shut up?" she replied in an annoyed manner.

Erina decided to take things in her hands because it seemed that he actually was as stupid as she always thought he was.

The blonde didn't know where the sudden courage she was feeling came from, maybe she just had enough of Sōma's teasing antics, but she grabbed the boy by the back of his neck and passionately pressed her soft lips against his. They stayed like this for a few seconds when she felt Sōma smiling through the kiss; he was actually the one that opened his lips first so their tongues connected. Erina let out a shaky moan–the sensation of pink muscles crushing together and Sōma's grip on her body was too much for her to handle.

Their lips parted, the kiss was interrupted by Sōma once again, "That was nice." he said against her lips.

Erina blushed even more, if that was even possible, as her swollen and wet lips formed into a pout, "Don't you dare teasing me more."

He smiled cheekily, "Yes Ma'am."

And he reconnected their lips again, in a deeper kiss than before. He pressed her body to hers even closer, his fingertips embedding into her sides. She felt his tongue making its way into her mouth again, touching and melding with her divine one. Their lips danced on their own accord. The kiss was wet, dirty. Erina felt hot and she couldn't get enough of the man she was with, she wanted this moment to last forever; her fingers in his red hair, his hands on her body.

With her lips still occupied by Yukihira's ones she felt his hard breathing on her cheek. Oh, how good of a kisser he was he had no idea.

In that moment Erina clearly remembered Alice's words in her head,

 _"When you start making out try to take his shirt off."_

 _"Huh? Just like that? What if he wouldn't want to?"_

 _"He will. By this you can show him you want something more than just kissing~"_

The idea was ridiculous to the Nakiri princess but she just assumed Alice knows what she's talking about. She was nervous as hell, taking off boy's shirt is not something Nakiri Erina would do. _So shameless!_

Her thoughts got interrupted when she felt Sōma's hand on her stomach; his rough touch on her bare skin smoothly making its way under her blouse. When has he started hovering over her? She didn't even notice she was now under the wide posture of her boyfriend that was kissing her so relentlessly her lips felt numb.

Erina didn't think twice before gripping Sōma's shirt in her fist and messily pulling it up his back. She moaned, oh so sweetly, when he bit and sucked on her lower lip. Yukihira clearly noticed how she was struggling to get rid of his shirt so he helped her a little by taking off one of the sleeves, the material still clinging onto his body with his bare shoulder out. Their lips parted for a mere second just to be connected again; they craved for each other so much.

"Yukihira-kun..." She moaned into the lips of red-haired boy.

That's when the door of the room opened, at the sound of it both their heads turned in horror to the direction of the wooden exit.

There she appeared, the petite girl with blue hair, Tadokoro Megumi.

"Sōma-kun, Nakiri-san aren't you coming for dinne-" was all she managed to say while entering the room, not aware of what she's about to witness in a few seconds.

It was then when her gaze moved towards the bed she saw the mess of a couple that was lying there; their faces red, blankets off, half-undressed Sōma, whose shirt was clinging on his neck and shoulder, hair twisted messily in every direction, hovering over flustered Erina whose face was now redder than Sōma's hair. Both their expression said one–shock.

"O-OH NO! I DIDN'T MEAN TO! I'M SO SORRY!" Megumi shouted with a trembling voice full of panic; her now red from embarrassment face twisted in horror as if she saw a demon. Nakiri heiress in a rush covered herself with the nearest blanket she caught in hand, Sōma straightened his back and opened his mouth to say anything but the blue-haired girl didn't notice it as she run out of the room at the speed of light, still apologizing on her way. It all happened in the span of like 10 seconds, but it sure made their hearts nervously beat for hours after.

As the girl left Sōma's bedroom he just sit there in disbelief trying to process what has just happened. He was making out with Nakiri and then Tadokoro caught them... I mean she knew about him and Erina already, so besides momentary awkwardness that might appear between them and Megumi there's nothing to really worry about?

That's at least where Sōma was coming from...

He looked down at the girl below him. She still lied there with the blanket all the way up to the top of her head.

"Hey, Nakiri." he called her while fixing his shirt, "It's okay, she's gone now."

Erina didn't budge.

"Nakiri..." he insisted, taking her hand, that tightly gripped the blanket, trying to move it out of her face but she used all her strength to not allow him to move it, "C'mon babe."

"Don't call me that." she said sternly, still hidden under the blanket.

"Erina." he used her first name and she finally moved her hands uncovering her face; the little pieces of hair electrified from the fluffy material were flying everywhere, her cheeks were flushed red, brows twisted in anger and lips all red and swollen from their earlier make out session.

"I am humiliated." she cried out, "my life's ruined."

"Don't overreact. Tadokoro is our friend, she won't tell anyone."

"What do you mean don't overreact?! First of all, shut up. Because you are the one who didn't lock the door! Second of all, she just caught us doing... this inappropriate act! How can you be sure she won't say a word!" After pushing him off of her Nakiri princess sat on the edge of Sōma's bed straightening up her clothes and fixing her hair.

"I mean even if she did... we were just kissing so? That's not a big deal?"

Erina turned around and gave him murderous glare, "You're such an idiot, I hate you!" she shouted throwing a pillow at him in a fury.

"Aight, calm down princess! I'll talk with Tadokoro." he ensured her catching the pillow in time. Erina's face features relaxed slightly; a little grimace and pout still noticeable, "Now, you wanna go downstairs for dinner?"

"You are absolutely crazy. No way."

-0-

 _2 days later_

It were late evening hours when Sōma could be seen wandering around the corridors of Polar Star dormitory with his phone in his pocket. He was waiting for a call from his dad but it looked like the old man forgot about him as the supposed 'I will ring you back in 10 minutes' turned into twenty more…was he even planning on calling him back or he just lied to get rid of him? The latter option seemed more likely to Sōma.

The red-haired chef let out an annoyed sigh, ' _to hell with this guy I'm going to bed',_ he thought and started making his way towards his room.

What didn't escape his attention was a petite figure standing at the top of dormitory's big balcony that he just walked by; the girl was wearing a white dress that beautifully moved with the breeze of a night wind, her blue hair tied up in two braids.

The full moon shined brightly on the night starry firmament, making its rays of blue light go through the balcony's marble facade.

Sōma after recognizing that the girl was no one other than Megumi decided to approach her.

"Tadokoro! What ya doing here? It's getting pretty chilly, better if we went in."

At the sound of his voice Megumi's body trembled. Hearing his voice, so smooth and cheerful, felt like a pin in her heart. She has never actually realized how much it hurt to not be _his_. She thought she's over him, that she accepted the fact that he was in a relationship. But she didn't and seeing him only deepened the wound in her little heart.

It was hard to confront him, especially after _that one_ incident. But yet, she turned to him and smiled–as she always does.

"It's okay, I like to come here when I want to think things through."

"Hm, I see." he mumbled under his breath and hid his hands into his pockets looking around.

He suddenly remembered something, "Ah Tadokoro, I have a little…request? You see, remember when you walked on me and Nakiri like two days ago ya know when we were doing-…" his words cut off for a second after seeing his friend's uncomfortable expression, "…you know what. A-Anyway yeah, it'd be great if you didn't tell anyone about it! Erina really took it all personally so I'm asking you on her behalf as well."

Megumi's face noticeably saddened, the picture of a couple appearing in her head again, "Sōma-kun, don't worry. I won't tell it to anyone. I wasn't even planning to."

"That's great knew I could trust ya!"

He sent her this _terribly terribly_ attractive wink and her heart skipped a beat. Why was he making everything more difficult! ' _Stop making me fall in love with you even more!'_

Tadokoro sighed and turned her back to him again, resting her arms on balcony's fence. Sōma noticed the sudden change in Megumi's aura so he walked to stand next to her and looked at her face.

"Something's wrong?"

"No."

"Come on I see something is bothering you."

Megumi let out a small nervous chuckle, "I told you I'm okay…"

"Hey, ya know you can tell me anything, right? We're friends!"

"I guess that is the problem."

Sōma's brows raised in confusion, "Huh? What do you mean?"

Megumi sighed again looking up to the sky scolding herself for saying nonsense, "Sōma-kun. Are you happy?"

"Me? Well… I'm definitely not unhappy. I guess you can say I'm happy now but I feel like until I don't reach all of my goals I won't achieve the peak of my happiness. There's just a lot of things I need to accomplish until I can say that I'm really happy. If that makes sense."

"What are these goals?"

"Well, definitely the first seat–I'm close to getting there. I still need to beat my old man and make Nakiri admit my cooking is delicious. Later of course I will take over Yukihira's and have a kid. But the first three are like the most important ones as of now." Sōma said with a smile looking at his friend again.

Megumi admired his face for a good second. He really was a stunning man. His golden eyes shined so brightly leaving the moon embarrassed. He looked like he absorbed all the light from the starts that hang on the sky, radiating this warm and blinding energy by himself. She moved her eyes to his lips that formed an adoring smile. If only these lips could be hers.

"You see Sōma-kun, I'm not really happy."

"Why?"

"The person I love loves someone else."

"Hm, how do you know if this person loves someone?"

"I mean they are dating."

"I see… hmm, I think you should tell them about it anyway. It's not good to keep your emotions inside all the time." he replied after a minute of intense thinking–he wasn't the best at love advices in all honesty.

After noticing that did not help and Megumi still looked sad he decided to touch the subject from more facetious side, "I also think this guy is totally missing out, what I mean is that you're a great girl Tadokoro! And he's an idiot! Who the hell is this guy anyway?"

Megumi stayed silent, her sparkling yellow eyes seemed to focus on that one particular star visible on the dark sky that shined the most out of them all.

"It's you Sōma."

... _Huh?_

Now it was his turn to turn completely silent as if he forgot how to speak. His eyes just widened and he looked at his friend with a total and upper shock. That's definitely not something he expected to hear.

"How long it's been, like 3 years already?" Megumi continued, "Yeah, it's always been you Sōma-kun. But you know what? I'm tired. I'm tired of these feelings killing me inside day by day. I know you are dating Nakiri-san so it's probably not the best moment for my confession, but I know If I don't tell you about my feelings now I will regret it. I-I want to be honest with you."

The shock from Sōma's face turned into sad grimace, ' _so she's been hiding that all this time.'_

"I love you Sōma-kun. I always have." the corners of girl's eyes started to fill with tears, "I'm sorry I've been hiding it from you all these years. Maybe if I told you sooner I could be in Nakiri-san's place right now."

"Tadokoro." he looked at her with sad eyes, "I love Erina."

Her flushed face smiled even more, paradoxically. The little drops of tears were now flowing down her red cheeks, "But do you really?"

The red head's scarred brow raised at her question. Before he got any opportunity to reply, he felt the warm of girl's body pressed to his. Her chest touching his, head hidden in his shoulder and tiny fists tightly gripping on his shirt.

"Please, just for this one minute." he heard her sobbing, "Let me feel like I'm yours."

Red-haired boy bit his lip in hesitation. Soon his hands moved to rest on the lower of her back, embracing her petite body. She was really small–something he never really noticed before.

"Thank you," she mumbled into his shirt, "Sōma-kun please answer me. If I told you about everything sooner would I be by your side now?"

Looking down he saw her staring at him, with her eyes wet and cheeks painted pink, "Would you… love me?"

Her lips started drawing closer to his. Standing on her toes and moving her head forward, her eyes slowly fluttered shut.

Sōma was just staring down at her lips, so eager to touch his ones. He felt like he want to move away but yet he stayed still frozen.

He could only watch as Tadokoro Megumi drawed closer, the little gap between them becoming smaller.

-0-

(…)

 _Nakiri [1:10am]_

 _Meet me near the big oak at the road crossing. I'll be waiting._

Sōma read the message over and over while making his way towards the appointed place. What could Nakiri princess want from him at one in the morning he had absolutely no idea. Why did she choose the forest entrance as the place of their meeting was more concerning to him though.

After a short 3 minute walk the blonde girl finally appeared in his sigh–standing with her phone in her hands and constantly looking around. When she noticed Yukihira her face features visibly relaxed.

"Anything wrong?" he asked seeing her fidgeting in place.

"Why are you always so carefree? It's annoying. " she remarked with grimace deepening boy's confusion even further. ' _What is it about this time_ …' he sighed rubbing his neck.

"What do you want?" he mumbled tiredly.

"Did you talk with Tadokoro-san?"

Sōma's hazed eyes suddenly turned wide. He felt his muscles tensing and heart dropping, the cold sweat appearing on his neck, "How do you know?"

The blonde princess sent him a baffled look. She didn't know what he was talking about so she sighed with frustration, "I'm asking if you talked with Tadokoro Megumi about that incident from 2 days ago!"

Yukihira's expression abruptly came back to normal and he let out the breath he didn't know he was holding, "Ah yeah, that thing. Everything's fine, I took care of it."

A gentle smile appeared on her white from the moonlight face, her eyes fluttering shut with relief, "Thank you."

Red-haired boy kept his eyes locked on the girl before him. She really was goddamn pretty, especially when she was smiling.

Looking at her made the corners of his lips uncontrollably turn upwards as well, and adoring look in his eyes. Suddenly the situation with Tadokoro from 10 minutes ago came to his mind and he felt terrible.

"Yukihira-kun?" Nakiri broke the silence after seeing her boyfriend spacing off, "You seem off, everything's alright?"

"Tadokoro confessed to me." he answered glancing at the gritty ground below him.

Erina was taken aback by his words, in fact she didn't know how to react at all. This was random, to say the least. It's not like she didn't know that Tadokoro Megumi had a thing for Sōma, only an idiot wouldn't notice this girl's feelings towards red-haired chef. It was just that the blonde didn't expect that Megumi would ever confess to Yukihira, especially now.

"O-Oh. And what did you say her?"

Sōma's eyes looked up to the sky, "Nothing."

"W-What? What do you mean 'nothing'? Don't tell me you consider h-"

"I don't know. I just don't know the answer yet."

Erina felt like something just crashed her head into the ground. Never in her life she thought she would hear that a boy she gave herself fully to would put her next to another girl so easily. Wasn't she special to him? How can he not know the answer to Megumi's confession? Was he… considering this girl?

Amethyst eyes turned downwards; her heart felt like hundreds of pins were tearing right through it. She bit her lip and glued her eyes to her feet, to prevent herself from crying. She won't cry because of that.

She won't cry because of him.

"Nakiri, you see I'm-"

"Don't. I'm… I'm going back home, it's late. Good night."

She turned her back and walked away the fastest she could. She didn't want to spend any second longer with the red head. She felt sick and she just wanted to go home.

The blonde got into the black car that was waiting for her this entire time not sparing Yukihira a last glance.

Her fists tightly gripped her skirt; little wet dots, one by one, started appearing on its material quietly.

-0-

After seeing the black car driving away and soon disappearing from his sight Sōma started making his way towards the dorm.

He was left with his thoughts alone. Never in the world he expected that coming to Tōtsuki would create so much love-related drama in his life. He came here to cook goddamit. How did he even get himself into this weird love triangle?

He felt stupid for not realizing Megumi's feelings before, but yet again–he wasn't the best at all the romance-related stuff. Nor that he had much experience in it either.

But her question got stuck in his head. What did she mean by that? Could it be possible that he didn't love Erina? Until now he knew Erina was the girl he liked but that Megumi's confession kinda sowed the little seeds of doubt within him.

Like, he always felt this weird attraction towards Nakiri heiress. He was interested in her and liked spending time with her, he thought she's super cute and easy to tease. He respected her as a chef and companion but most importantly she was his goal and motivation to cook. But was it love? Or just physical attraction towards the blonde goddess? She was the one that confessed to him and he accepted her feelings because he himself felt something towards her. What it was he couldn't really tell.

He just assumed if they're dating he loves her. That what's couples do, right? Love each other.

But now, as Megumi's words repeated themselves in his head he didn't really know. How does one know if they love someone? How can he be so sure he loves Nakiri?

How can he be sure if he didn't love Tadokoro?

 _…_

 _"Would you love me?"…_

 _Just as Megumi's lips were about to touch Sōma's she felt his hands gripping on her arms, moving her body away, "Stop it."_

 _Yellow eyes widened and she noticed the grimace twisting on red head's face, "You know it's wrong."_

 _"I-...I'm sorry! I'm really sorry Sōma-kun! I-I don't know what got into me, please forget about it-"_

 _"You should go to bed, it's late and you'll get a migraine from all this crying." He resorted and completely withdraw from blue-haired embrace._

 _She just looked down, embarrassed and most importantly heart-broken. It's not like she expected him to do anything other than that but it still hurt. She was angry at herself for giving herself illusive hope and coming for her friend's boyfriend. 'When did you become so selfish Megumi?'_

 _"Tadokoro, listen…"_

 _That's when the sound of a new message ringed and the conversation got interrupted. Sōma took out his phone and after reading its content he started making his way towards the balcony's exit._

 _"We'll talk later. Go to bed."_

 _He exited the room not sparing Tadokoro a last glance. Instead his thought were already settled on a blonde girl he was about to see._

 _…_

He _didn't_ love Tadokoro.

Or at least he thought he didn't… seems like he's back at the starting point huh…

But deep down Sōma knew Erina was something else, she wasn't like all the girls he knew. His feelings towards the blonde were different and he was sure of that. Then why these mixed emotions arise within him when he remembers tonight's talk with Tadokoro?

He guessed he just got to work everything out himself. But besides everything he was sure of one thing–Nakiri was his girlfriend and she was important to him. He never felt this way towards a girl the way he did towards Erina.

As of now it's the best to end the thing with Megumi and move on with life.

He went to her room and saw her sleeping on the bed, her hair messy and eyes red. He sighed and covered her petite body with a blanket. Before exiting he left a little note on her desk;

 _'Hey Tadokoro!_

 _When you wake up take the medicine and eat some of my yesterday's leftovers, you'll feel better. Don't want ya to get sick! Otherwise who will help me with my paperwork? Jk jk._

 _If you feel bad for yesterday–don't. We're still friends right? Let's just forget about it and move on with life._

 _I'm with Nakiri and let it stay that way. I'm sorry._

 _-Sōma.'_

 _..._

Finally he could sit down on the bed in his room and take a breath. Well, it was one hell of a night. He really hoped his relationship with Megumi will go back to how it's used to be–the last thing he wanted is for things to become awkward between them.

He rubbed the back of his neck and groaned with pain, "Love is complicated." he mumbled under his breath and closed his eyes.

Just as he was about to stand up from his mattress to take a shower he got a message. Seeing the name of a sender put an uncontrolled smile on his face. He clicked on the notification and waited until the message opens itself up.

What it contained sent a cold shiver down his spine.

 _Nakiri [1:57am]_

 _Let's break up._

-0-

* * *

 _A/N: **Chapter 3** is coming soon! _

_Well, "soon" lmao. But seriously tho, I will try to be quicker with updates (especially that I left y'all with such cliffhanger), bear with me!_

 _Hope you didn't mind a little bit of angst in this chapter, it has to be like that sometimes! Please don't kill me for the ending, I swear it's just a part of the plot! In Part 3 a lot of things will get better._

 _I also decided to exclude the smut from this story since writing one is really time-consuming. There will be a scene that will be more mature tho, but not in a full-smut format._

 _Nonetheless i hope you enjoyed this chapter. **Please don't forget to leave a review!** And thank you for your feedback so far! _


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